små

Små is a common adjective form in Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian that means small or little. It is used primarily before plural nouns to describe size or extent, as in svenska phrases like “små barn,” “små hus,” or their Danish and Norwegian equivalents. In these languages, små is the plural form of the underlying adjective meaning small; the singular forms differ (for example, liten/litet in Swedish, lille in Danish, liten/bittel in Norwegian in related patterns).

In use, små is gender-neutral in the plural and does not change for the noun’s gender. When the noun is definite in the plural, the adjective remains små while the noun takes its definite form (for example, de små barnen in Swedish). The construction is productive, allowing many compounds and fixed phrases where små conveys size, scale, or intensity without altering the basic meaning.

The word also participates in a wide range of compound words and noun phrases, often conveying a sense of small-scale or minor importance. Examples in Swedish include småföretag (small businesses), småstäder (small towns), and other formations used across the Scandinavian languages.

Etymologically, små derives from the Proto-Germanic roots shared by related Germanic languages and is cognate with English small. In regional toponymy, it appears in names such as Småland, a historical province in southern Sweden, whose name reflects a former sense of “small lands” or “small territories” in contrast with larger lands.